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I crunched the numbers, they weren't what I hoped.
30 - 24 USC.
This is going to be a tight one. Based on how they've performed so far, I'd treat this one the same as going on the road to MSU or Arky.
It's going to be a fight.

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UCF is a well-coached, disciplined team. We'll get their best shot.

We're more talented, so if we stay focused and handle our assignments we'll win. If not, it'll be a long day.

I tried to tell everyone. If you're really upset about this game, the only difference between you and me is that I applied rational, critical thought to the game.

UCF has shown it was a tough team, beat a decent Penn State team at their house, and had an entire week to game plan for what was to be their "super bowl." It had all the hallmarks of a dog fight.

It also proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're not the team we hoped we be this year. It is, as they say, what it is. More on that later.

OFFENSEQB: BConnor started off okay, but reverted back to holding on to the ball instead of letting it go. As a result he took off and ran too often and took a shot he didn't need to. Dylan came in and did reasonably well, but missed throws he usually makes and made some uncharacteristic mistakes. I hate that Connor's out, but Dylan usually steps up big time when he gets the majority of snaps in practice. I just hope and pray that Connor's injury isn't something that nags at him all year. He really deserves a full year for his last season.

RB: A+Love seeing Davis get more than 20 carries. He put this team on his back in the second half and won the game for us. We're going to miss Wilds as it looks like Shon and Salley aren't ready to step up. I'd hate burning Williams' red shirt for this, but we need someone to give Davis a rest.

WR/TE: CDropped passes, not getting separation on routes, Shaq not playing... not a great outing for the wide outs. Great to see the TE's get more involved, as both Busta and Adams had some great catches. Nice to see Byrd reemerge, but Nick seemed to take a step back.

OL: A+Most consistent unit on our team.

Think about that for a moment.

DEFENSEDL: CMan... I don't know. If it wasn't for the 3rd quarter this would be an F. No push up front, no stunts worth mentioning, can't hold gaps. I just have to face the fact that we have an average defensive line, which is weird because I thought we'd be awesome. No, I'm not blaming everything on Deke, but damn.

CB/S: CDisagree with me if you want, but other than a few busted plays, these guys played pretty well. The problem is that the few busted plays resulted in around 14 points.

SPECIAL TEAMSOverall: FThe good news is that we're so consistently bad at special teams that I don't have to change the grade, I can just copy and paste from week to week.

Spurrier said last week that special teams would receive extra focus all week.

Work in progress Steve, work in progress...

COACHINGOverall: CI keep hoping to see signs that we're progressing on the sidelines, or in game planning for the other team... but it doesn't seem like we're really progressing. Signals are still getting in late, we keep having substitution issues, penalties at the wrong moment... This isn't all on the coaches, but we're not as disciplined as we should be and the team lacks leadership. On the plus side, the coaches made some great half-time adjustments. Baby steps.

INTANGIBLES Overall: B
We won a tough game on the road. We could have thrown in the towel, blamed each other, and let the crowd take us out of our game. Instead we buckled up, fought back, and came within 3 plays of blowing UCF out. That's at least something we can grow on. On the other hand, we show no signs of being able to knock somebody out when the opportunity presents itself. For the most part we shut UCF down in the second half, but couldn't do it when we absolutely had to. Kentucky showed fight against Louisville and Florida, but should be a perfect opportunity to finally put someone down the way we should.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It's really weird that we took one of the best teams in the country to the brink at their house, beat a decent Vandy team and UNC at home, and beat a talented UCF team on the road, yet it seems like people have already given up on us. I haven't given up by any means, but it seems pretty clear where we are right now as a team.

We're about 10 points different on the road .vs at home, which isn't good given the stretch we have coming up. We're not a top 10 team right now, but we have the talent to be if we can just get it together. I'm hoping that we see some adjustments on defense over the next few games that allow us to play a complete game. If we keep playing as sloppy as we have been, making mental errors, and don't improve special teams, we're a 3 to 4 loss team this year. That's not doom and gloom, that's just fact. On the other hand, if we settle down and play smart, we can win out.

Moving forward it looks like we're going to lean on Davis a lot more, which is a good thing. If we can get him 20 - 30 touches a game it will open the passing game up in a big way.

Honest question: If Davis hadn't fumbled, and we won the game 35 -18 would you be so upset? If not you need to adjust your attitude just a little, the same way our team needs to make the little adjustments that make that type of outcome possible.

Do slightly disagree with your d-line grade, I thought they were in the backfield quite a bit. But to each their own! The CB's played a good game, the Safeties were awful however. They just make too many errors and are NOT physical...except for Brison's big hit. Which was a BS flag btw! That rule needs to go now.

I tried to tell everyone. If you're really upset about this game, the only difference between you and me is that I applied rational, critical thought to the game.

UCF has shown it was a tough team, beat a decent Penn State team at their house, and had an entire week to game plan for what was to be their "super bowl." It had all the hallmarks of a dog fight.

It also proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're not the team we hoped we be this year. It is, as they say, what it is. More on that later.

It is pretty much as I thought it would be. UCF is a great C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. team this season. They have typical C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. talent, play a typical C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. schedule. Typically, the better C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. teams can pull off a upset win over a big name opponent, if that big name opponent is having a rebuilding season when they play. And UCF got that versus PSU....

We had a bad 4th quarter. UCF came out in the game fired up as they should be. They are an offensive-driven team, and they had 2-3 possessions worth of plays scripted up as most teams do to start games, and they drove on 1st possession and scored a TD. USC lose Shaw to injury on our first possession, but he was driving us down the field when it happened, and fumbles the ball away on the injury. USC stumbles the rest of the 1st half with Thompson struggling to settle in, but our defense holds UCF to only 10 pts.

Going 3-4 minutes into the 4th qtr., we're up 28-10 and our D is holding UCF to around 230 total offensive yds. We're in great shape of beating UCF just as decisively as we beat UNC. But then we relax and let UCF hit those 2 big pass plays up the middle, and they score 2 quick TDs. So the score and stats look ugly, but the defense overall didn't play that badly, until then. We didn't rack up a lot of TFL and sacks, but we clearly rattle Bortles throughout the game and made him rush his throws.

But we still clearly need to get better on defense: need to get more consistent with our coverage, and learn how to play 4 full quarters of football, regardless of who we're playing....

Nick Jones may have dropped that one, but he made some critical blocks. He blocked the crap out of the CB on DT's rushing td.

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Originally Posted by ConwayGamecock

but the defense overall didn't play that badly, until then. We didn't rack up a lot of TFL and sacks, but we clearly rattle Bortles throughout the game and made him rush his throws.

But we still clearly need to get better on defense: need to get more consistent with our coverage, and learn how to play 4 full quarters of football, regardless of who we're playing....

I agree with this viewpoint. Bortles threw two interceptions. Coming into the game, he had only one for the season. The third interception (Legree) was on the trick play halfback pass across the field. Coming into the game, Bortles was third highest QB rating in the nation. Bortles QB rating for our game was 26.2.

I thought the DL did halfway decent at getting some pressure. Two sacks and three QB hurries must have contributed to the interceptions. Plus, the DL held UCF's star RB to only 65 yards, total 69 for the UCF team. That is a pretty good effort in the trenches, which was at least one of the defensive problems going into the game.

Honest question: If Davis hadn't fumbled, and we won the game 35 -18 would you be so upset? If not you need to adjust your attitude just a little, the same way our team needs to make the little adjustments that make that type of outcome possible.

No, I wouldn't have been nearly as upset. The fumble and the 75 yard UCF TD really took the wind out of my sails, but I was happy with the win. I also made the mistake of betting on the spread when in my heart I knew to take the money line. Lesson learned.

Acock, I know you're definitely not the only one who would do what you did by quoting your prediction for the game as a way to pump yourself up, but I gotta say you know your score prediction was lucky.

Once Spurrier got his head on straight and decided to commit to running the ball, UCF was outclassed, and it wasn't close. The only reason the final score was even reminiscent of what you predicted was because of breakdowns in the fourth quarter, not because UCF is a well-coached or disciplined team, which I do think they are.

If the majority of the defensive players hadn't taken the attitude of, "This game is over," before the game was actually over and Davis didn't go the wrong direction on the goal line when he fumbled, we end up winning the game by a score of 35-10. But what happened did happen, so here we are with a lot of people moaning and groaning.

Anyway, your thoughts are solid and appreciated, so I don't want you to misinterpret my post, but anyone who was paying attention knows the final score of the game was a lot closer than what it should've been, and you're to be credited with that part of your prediction, that if we had stayed focused on the task, the game would never have been in doubt.

Oh! I also disagree with the grade for the special teams. Are you basing it on Hampton's poor decision when he caught the ball at the three-yard line? If so, that's kind of unfair.

Do slightly disagree with your d-line grade, I thought they were in the backfield quite a bit. But to each their own! The CB's played a good game, the Safeties were awful however. They just make too many errors and are NOT physical...except for Brison's big hit. Which was a BS flag btw! That rule needs to go now.

I agree 100%. The safeties take really poor angles and I think they may be a bit slow???

Acock this one is pretty "off" as well. Please go back and review some plays and see how many times on passing plays that our QBs HAD to run for their lives. Corey Robinson simply waved at a couple of players as they plowed through our oline.

Rush blocking - I'll give you except for the fact that I'm not certain that Mike Davis wouldn't get good yardage if YOU AND I were blocking for him.

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Flying the Gamecock Flag from the mountains of North Carolina!

Nice write up, Acock! Gotta love the run game right now. The passing game is strong even if we didn't have our best outing on Saturday.

I said to my brother at halftime that to be down only 10 points (with Bortles playing very well in the first quarter) was a pretty good defensive effort. I wasn't happy with the offense in that first half.

Best offensive start to a season in school history, and we exceeded our average per game on Saturday!

Why is everyone hating on Acock? Dude gave a fair assessment of the game. Regardless of what happened there are some question that need to be addressed. Our team isn't a top 10 team. Now taking that into consideration our O-line is a top ten O-Line. The only thing that I would grade differently is the Coaching grade.

Spurrier came in with a game plan that didn't work in the first quarter. There wasn't an adjustment in the second quarter. 9 rushes in the first quarter and that's including the scrambles by connor. UCF had a stage set for them to make a statement and they did. Unfortunately we came up short and didn't make a statement. It seems to me that the team chemistry isn't there at all.

I am not trying to be a negative nancy or a sunshine pumper. I am just trying to give a fair outlook on the team. Long story short we have problems and they need to be fixed very soon.

Acock this one is pretty "off" as well. Please go back and review some plays and see how many times on passing plays that our QBs HAD to run for their lives. Corey Robinson simply waved at a couple of players as they plowed through our oline.

Rush blocking - I'll give you except for the fact that I'm not certain that Mike Davis wouldn't get good yardage if YOU AND I were blocking for him.

Yep, Robinson proved to me he wont be leaving for the NFL after this season

It is pretty much as I thought it would be. UCF is a great C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. team this season. They have typical C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. talent, play a typical C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. schedule. Typically, the better C-USA/Sunbelt Conf. teams can pull off a upset win over a big name opponent, if that big name opponent is having a rebuilding season when they play. And UCF got that versus PSU....

you do realize that they are in the American Athletic Conference aka Old Big East right?

In the UCF prediction thread, I predicted a 31-27 if we came out with a good game plan and executed it, so winning 28-25 with a classically bad game plan and playcalling in the first half was a minor miracle. Excellent plays on D led to the 4 turnovers forced, so that was a real positive.
Lots of analysts called our DL an NFL line in the preseason, but nobody is saying that now. Clowney's effort level seems to be increasing, but our starters other than him have been almost invisible. Either the other guys somehow got bad attitudes and work habits in the offseason, or there is a coaching problem. Unfortunately we're in a quandry in which if Adams is the problem, it doesn't get fixed until after the season, and then we'd have to worry about losing all the work he's put in on some top DL recruits.

Well, my grades are cumulative, so I had to take the good plays of defense and measure them against the missed assignments and poor angles I saw.

I also payed particular attention to our DTs. Those guys are just not getting the job done right now.

The o-line did have some breakdowns, perhaps I'm still giving them an A+ due to the fact that I'm not used to seeing a good O-line.

Quote:

Acock, I know you're definitely not the only one who would do what you did by quoting your prediction for the game as a way to pump yourself up, but I gotta say you know your score prediction was lucky.

Don, you kind have a point....BUT the game played out almost exactly like I though it would. We have a superior team in terms of talent, but we struggle with execution and mental errors. I have a system that I use when I want to accurately predict a score, and it involves finding, percentage-wise, how a team does against other teams in terms of holding them above or below their usual output. You then take that percentage and adjust it based on home teams, streaks, things like that. I'm usually very, very accurate with it. It's a huge pain in the ass (I used to do it for all our games and would post a game preview with score predictions but it's an amazing pain in the ass to do) so I don't do it often, but I was struck last week by the amount of people that thought we were going to go in there and roll over UCF.